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Deep-fried milk (about $9) is really deep-fried milk custard; since the filling must be very firm, many recipes also call for corn starch. Though sweet enough for dessert, at Long Xin (and elsewhere) it's blithely slipped into the menu amid many other mostly savory tidbits. At our table this evening, watermelon was the final course; deep-fried milk was simply a change of pace from crispy little fish and "king garlic chicken."
Long Xin
50 Eldridge St. (Canal-Hester Sts.), Manhattan
212-625-8199
(This venue is closed.) This deconstructed chicken egg foo young, accompanied by fried rice and a crisp vegetable roll, left it to me to mix the chicken and the egg. (Compare a more traditional version.) But bonus points for the amuse bouche of freshly fried shrimp chips and the lunch special price, five bucks for the lot.
5 Spice
39-06 64th St. (39th-Roosevelt Aves.), Woodside, Queens
718-606-9835
(This venue is closed.) "Home of the $3 meal."
(Updated for a new harvest season.) Not a James Bond thriller about giant seed pods in high orbit.
In Singapore "economy rice" identifies a hawker stall that offers a portion of white rice and an assortment of pre-cooked dishes, from which you choose two, three, perhaps four. Though the term appears on signboards, it's rarely heard in conversation. In New York the name seems to be absent altogeher, though the concept — a bargain meal that stands in for home cooking — can be procured at many "four over rice" establishments.
"Cocina economica" seems to have a similar currency in Latin America, though as you might gather from the awning seen here, it's not this Woodside venue's primary line of business. Further investigation to follow.
"Cocina economica"
Woodside, Queens
The Ulster fry is named for the northernmost of the four Irish provinces.
Lots of great things come in a plain brown wrapper.
I used to love droopy, ketchup-drenched bowling-alley fries.
McLean Bowl-O-Drome
Faded painted ad on Nereid Ave., Wakefield, Bronx; the alleys were eight blocks east, in Yonkers
The "Irish BLT" ($5.25) commands a modest premium compared with the classic American coffee-shop version (also available here). The difference, as you've gathered, is that fat-streaked bacon made from pork belly, the common style in the United States, is swapped out for leaner hamlike slabs made from back meat. Irish bacon makes a bulkier sandwich, with but one notable shortcoming: You can't order yours crispy.
Irish Coffee Shop
948 McLean Ave. (Alexander-Glover Aves.), Yonkers, New York
914-776-3309
Grilled chicken, mozzarella, and sundried tomatoes on focaccia ($5.50). A variety of hot specials, as well as fresh mozzarella and sausage, appear daily; this sandwich had the added virtue of easy portability.
Avitabile Brothers
1016 McLean Ave. (Woodlawn-Hyatt Aves.), Yonkers, New York
914-237-2389
Thank you!
